Artificial foliage and method of manufacture



Sept. 1, 1959 w. A. HALL 2,901,852

ARTIFICIAL FOLIAGE AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURE ori inal Filed Oct. 14,1952 W T'IIIII/ 11/1/1111 42 MLL/A M ALEXA NDEQ H4 LL INVENTOR.

United States Patent Oflice 2,901,852 Patented Sept. '1, 1959 ARTIFICIALFOLIAGE AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURE William Alexander Hall, Santa Ana,Calif.

Original application October 14, 1952, Serial No. 314,602,

now Patent No. 2,791,854, dated May 14, 1957. Divided and thisapplication May 6, 1957, Serial No. 657,416

1 Claim. or. 41 13 This invention relates to the manufacture ofartificial leaves, this application being a divisional application of mycopending application Serial No. 314,602, filed October 14, 1952, nowU.S. Patent No. 2,791,854.

It has long been the practice in making artificial flowers and foliageto cut the individual parts, such as petals, stamens, leaf forms, andothers, and to assemble these parts by hand upon stems of wire or othersuitable material. The parts to be assembled are often complex in designand so small as to be diflicult to handle; when made of paper they areeasily torn and crumpled. The extent of manual work results in manyspecimens of wilted appearance which must be commercially rejected. Itis particularly diflicult to hand-cut, stamp, or press any material, beit paper, cloth, or plastic sheeting, so as to produce the thin petaland leaf edges and thicker stem or central parts characteristic of manyplants, or the curves and convolutions of, say, an orchid.

It is an object of this invention to provide a method for manufacturingartificial leaves which eliminates much of the manual labor hithertodeemed necessary in such manufacture and which thereby greatly reducesthe cost.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a method ofmanufacture which eliminates die-stamping of leaves, saving not only thecost of dies but the large waste of material from which stampings arecut.

A more direct and specific object of my invention is to provideartificial leaves, of design and construction which permit the massmanufacture of leaves of superior realism by novel and economicalmethods.

A further precise object of my invention is to provide a method ofartificial leaf manufacture by which such features of natural fiora asvariations of color on a leaf, or the curvature, fringe attenuation,fringe dentation or lobation, and venation of a leaf, or the petiolationof a leaf may be economically and realistically recreated in theproduct.

In carrying out my invention, I prepare a pattern plate of the leaf tobe reproduced, and upon one side of this pattern plate I form the leafby spraying or painting with suitable plastic material or by dipping insuch material or by pressing on thin sheets or patches of such material.It will be noted that my process is not a molding process in the senseof an enclosed or injection mold wherein both sides of a foliage elementwould be pressed or cast, but rather consists in building up a thin andrealistic model of the desired flora element upon one side of a patternplate. As material for the flora element I may use an artificial rubberbut other materials of the general plastic class of natural or syntheticgums and resins which dry to a flexible, non-tacky consistency and whichthen readily peel and separate from the pattern and which hold theirshape flexibly are also available and suitable.

The pattern plate for a single leaf may be a thin metal sheet on asuitable support or for a cluster of leaves, the plate may be an exactrepresentation of the cluster, raised from a supporting block. In eithercase,

the margins of the pattern plate are very thin, and are both raised andspaced laterally from the supporting structure so that material appliedto the plate receives a sharp peripheral delineation, finding nosurfaces contiguous to the edge of the pattern upon which it may drip,run, or spread. The pattern plate has whatever grooves and ridges arerequired to form the veins of leaves and may have sprue-like openings ortubes for the placement of stems. Such elements are preformed and areappropriately placed in or upon the pattern plate, where they receive apartial coating of the artificial rubber or similar material to bondthem to the leaf.

The plastic material used to form the artificial leaf may be dyed orotherwise colored prior to its application to the pattern and may beapplied in several layers. Yellow spots on green leaves may be formed byflicking on spots of yellow material, either directly on the patternbefore the green material or after the application of the latter. Leafstems may be applied to leaves already formed of one layer of plasticmaterial, and a second layer may be applied as a lamination upon andclose to the stem. This will bond the stem to the leaf and also givethat added thickness close to the stem which is natural to a leaf.

In the drawing,

Fig. 1, is a side elevational view of a pattern for a leaf.

Fig. 2, is a plan view of the pattern of Fig. 10;

Fig. 3, is a fragmentary plan view showing a leaf molded on the pattern;and

Fig. 4, is a sectional view on the line 1313 of Fig. 3, the leaf beingshown in part stripped from the pattern.

Having reference to the details of the drawing,

In Figs. 1 to 4 I have illustrated the formation of a leaf. A patternplate 40, representative in area and in venation of the desiredartificial leaf, has thin sharp margins 41 spaced from all supportingstructure, for which purpose the plate 40 may be supported on columns 42on a base 43. Suitable simulation of the venation and petiolation of theleaf blade may be attained by shallow grooves 44 and 45. To form a leaf,a lamination 46 of driable liquid gummy material is spread upon thepattern plate 40 and a stem 47 is pressed upon the lamination 46 whilethe latter is still tacky. A second lamination 48 of material similar tothe lamination 46 is then applied to bond the stem 47 between the twolaminations, the laminations being bonded to each other. For smallleaves which may be quickly spread or for thick leaves which do not dryquickly, the lamination 46 may be extended to the margins 41 and thelamination 48 may be placed only along the center part of the leaf, toconceal and to reenforce the junction of the leaf stem 47 with the bladeof the leaf, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4. It will be apparent, however,that liquid gummy material may be sprayed in such a manner as to leaveno visible dividing line at the edge of the narrower lamination, and itis then immaterial with respect to appearance which of the laminations46 and 48 is applied first. If the leaf is large and thin, it may beadvantageous to apply the under lamination 46 only along the center ofthe leaf and to extend the upper lamination 48 to the margins 41. Ineither arrangement, the so formed leaf has thin edges which may taperand which terminate abruptly at the margins 41, with no necessity forsubsequent trimming. Spots, stripes, and indications of naturalblemishes may be simulated by inlays, spattered, painted or pressed uponthe pattern 40 as in the case of the inlay 49 or spattered, painted orpressed upon the upper surface of the leaf as in the case of the inlay50. The inlays are preferably of the same material as the leaf,differently colored, and if representative of blisters or nodules theymay be formed and partly dried to hold their shape before being pressedinto place.

whenzthedriable liquid gummy material is spread upon the pattermplate40and-is extended tothe sharp.

the-"edgesl of: a" leaf, the edges are i. cut by; the pattern.

plate Becauseoflthe many. possible variations, Iudo not de-. sirelhescopevofmyl inventionto be limited to the particular-forms illustratedorto the usenoi any particular except 4 as such limitations of :form andmaterial areexpressed; in..the.appended claim.

*1'n1i;t=" 1 The piocess of" making. artificialfleaf-like representa-.tions which.comprises the steps of. providinghaupattern plate-,in theform: fa leaf-likearticle having av sharpmargin free of any externally.contiguous .supporlt and oven-which any excess of.-materialapplied to.said pattern plate is free to flow, applying plastic material influidiformv to said plate in excess amount-whereby the excess overflowsthe sharp-edged margin thereby to form a smooth edge on said plasticmaterial retained on the plate, embedding a representation of a stem insaid retained plastic material 'while said material is still tacky,allowing said retained plastic material to set, and removing the,so-fqrmed article fromlsaid plate,

References Cited in the file, of this patent UNKTED STATES PATENTS719,632, Akeley Feb. 3,1903 1,475,579 Harlan Nov. 27, 1923 2,046,954 LaVerne et al. ...2 July 7, 1936 2,054,605 Rogers Sept. 15, 1936 2,095,195Macdonald Oct. 5, 1937 2,718,033 Burke Sept. 20, 1955 2,718 6 Bu ke, --tSep 27; 1955 Jin -w-

